Filum Exitium
by Officer Durandal
Summary: When the UNSC Infinity suddenly finds itself in foreign territory, Captain Lasky is faced with a Challenge no Naval Captain wishes to come across: Be a diplomat.
1. Filum Exitium

The dark black sky, pinned with stars. Unpolluted beauty, bar none. This is what the people of Earth saw, when they looked up in wonder at the universe before them. They never imagined that light years away, in another solar system, new life was coming to be. Several large ships broke the planes of existence themselves, piercing with heavenly fury into the new world. The ships were large, with silver clad armor on all sides. Shimmering lights of blue adorned their facets. Inscribed on each side, the words:

 **UNSC**

The ships slide through space with ease, cutting through ethereal wakes of stardust. On board, Human men and women, working in succinct harmony, raced to gather their bearings. They did not know where they were. Across the planes, there was a war raging. The Covenant, an alien alliance, was vowing to destroy the Humans. On another front, the Forerunner possessed AI Cortana was waging her own war. Now, the Human's largest ship, the UNSC Infinity, and her carrier group of over 20 smaller ships, was stranded in a distant part of the Galaxy.

As men and women ran, Captain Tom Lasky strode with confidence. He held his head in a stately manner, parting the wash of frantic seamen running before him. The Captain took information down as he went, making sure to get his bearings and have his morning coffee on the way to the bridge. Many saw him as an arrogant leader, but many saw him as just the beacon of hope needed.

When he arrived on the bridge, he ordered a full sensor sweep. What came back rattled him to his core. The ship had made an errant slipspace jump, and they were in Sangheili space. The ship prior had been on route to Earth. Lasky looked over his instrumentation, was briefed over and over for what felt like hours. One thing was certain, a strange object had appeared twenty-two thousand kilometers to their port side.

Ordering an investigation, a command was placed to turn the massive five thousand and seven hundred meter ship towards the prong shaped object, and blast it with a full array of sensors. Lasky, being a pragmatist, also encouraged his Spartans and Pilots to be ready for any combat scenario. The rest of the ship was put at battle ready status.

Lasky turned on his heals, quick firing orders to the bridge officers as he walked towards the door to meet Spartan Sarah Palmer, who was very intereseted to know why her Spartans were suiting up after only 4 hours of downtime. Lasky would recall her as "The maddest I've ever see a Spartan". The Elevator stopped behind the sliding double doors with an audible _Shuh-thunk._ Tom stood at attention in honor of the person behind the door.

Sarah Palmer, the leader of the Spartan IV's on Infinity, was tall and imposing. She had a fiery temper but also the will to lead under pressure. She was one of the Captain's closest friends, and one of his most trusted advisors. She knew how to handle people like John-117, as well as your everyday man. What she did not know how to handle, was being deep within Sangheili territory without a clue what to do. What was worse, is that the home planet of the Elites...seemed to be gone.

"Tom...tell me you got something?" Palmer rang out. She was wearing a casual T-shirt that was soaked in sweat, and a pair of workout pants. A stark contrast to Tom's prim and proper uniform.

"I can't say that I do, Sarah. We came out of slipspace not even 15 minutes ago. Our full sensor sweep, and the analysis that followed, is coming up with only two things" Lasky spoke softly, not wanting any of the passing privates to hear. He led Commander Palmer to his personal office. Someplace he could talk without being overheard.

"Sangheilios is gone. That's the first big one. Roland, have you had a chance to analize the Cartographic data we've collected yet?" Lasky sat behind his desk, sipping at a cup of coffee, while Sarah laid down on the couch adjacent from him.

"Yes Captain. I'm going to be very frank here, and upfront. The stars have moved. They're not in the proper place for 2558"

"What are you implying?" Lasky bit, a sudden tension in his chest. With a slam of his cup, the pang of confusion grew stronger. He stood, pacing the room now, waiting for Roland to explain himself. His mind was awash with the possibilities and consequences of all this.

"The only way I can make sense of this is by imposing Star charts from the year 2185 _onto_ our current data. It's the only way these charts make sense, sir. I just don't understand how we're viewing things from a perspective so far in the past. I do hope you understand this makes no sense"

"What the fuck do you mean it makes no sense, Roland? You're supposed to be smarter than all of us, even Halsey!"

"My my, Miss Palmer, did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed? And no, I don't think I'm smarter than Doctor Halsey. As much as it hurts to say. Perhaps getting her perspective would be worthwhile? I know that she's on the ship. She engineered the engines that brought us to this...odd sector of space"

"No way. The last thing we need is her sticking her fingers further into the anatomy of the UNSC's flagship. For all we know, she's a traitor" Sarah mused, sitting up to give her full attention to the situation. Her face gleamed red beneath the mess of brown hair laying against her face. She didn't have time to make herself presentable. Soldiers rarely do.

"Sarah...if what my gut tells me is true, I don't think there is anyone out there to communicate with her. We need to get our bearings as well as possible and try to get back to Earth" Tom strode out of the office, leaving Sarah with her thoughts. He was determined to figure out this mystery, and when he was this determined, nothing stopped him.

Hours passed as exploratory missions were sent out to the areas surrounding the strange prong shaped station, to the planets. Photographs were taken of the stars to match them up, to see if maybe the sensors were lying. The Captain of the ship ran himself ragged, wracking his mind on things that were far above his pay grade.

He consulted with technicians, stood in on operating procedures, and when the data came back, was the first in the labs to watch it be unraveled. To see the images torn into layers, shreds, astrometric data, Lines and graphs that gave all that they needed to know. Doctor Halsey still hadn't been informed of the ill goings on, but was suspicious. She knew the Captain would come knocking eventually. Halsey had a good ear for things. She liked to just listen.

And soon, she was proven correct. The staunch Captain, the one willing to take a chance on her and bring her aboard his ship, walked into the cell. He was flanked by two Spartans, but they weren't Spartan IV's, they were older. More experienced. They wore the scars of combat on their helmets, chest pieces and legs. These were Spartan-IIIs.

"I see that you've decided to bring out the old models, Captain" She mused, in her usually ho-hum manner. The Doctor stood and walked closer to the door seperating them, and stared with her steely gaze into the very soul of the Supreme Commander of the ship she had been calling home for the last few weeks.

"I needed something more reliable to handle this. Your Spartan Fours are great, true achievements. But they're all out on assignment right now. You see, Doctor, we've run afoul of the slipspace drives you installed and now we're in a bit of a pinch. I'd like your help"

"Run afoul? What do you mean by that, Mr. Lasky?" Halsey snapped, an angry expression forming on her face. How dare they assume it's _my_ fault.

"I mean, that we've somehow ended up in the Sangheilios system, but there's no Sangheilios to be found. Just a gas giant and a few moons. Roland seems convinced we're in the past. I don't see how that's in any way possible, seeing as even hundreds of years ago, Sangheilios was still here" Lasky pulled a rolling chair over and say in it, gesturing to the map behind him. Just two planets were displayed on the hologram, and none of them were familiar.

"I could tell you my theory, but I'm sure you wouldn't like it. Have you ever heard of string theory? Of course you have, ever Naval captain takes an intro to physics" She stared at the now lounging Captain, fire in her eyes backing her words.

"You mean to tell me that we've jumped into another universe entirely? Is that it?"

"It's a theory I've been working on behind the scenes. Slipspace drives, in the simplest of terms, tear a whole into the subspace layer that connects all things. We re-emerge from that realm where we want to be. Subspace also connects the strings of our universes. Have you ever wondered why they say slipspace travel is a hands-off experience?" Lasky gestured, egging her on to continue.

"Any course correction in the split few seconds of travel can, theoretically, cause a ship to jump out of it's string and into another" Halsey moved to the back of her cell, sitting on the bed. She let him take in what she said fully.

"Out of everything I've heard today, I guess that makes the most sense. Trust me, Doctor, having to deal with a panicked crew, an AI that doesn't know what the hell's going on, and a XO who would rather die that ask for help, can be very stressful"

"I suppose. Is there anything else anomalous that I should know about?" Halsey asked, a hint of genuine understanding in her voice. Lasky looked down and closed his eyes, not sure if he should really be bringing this up. He brought up a close image of the prong shaped station, and it's blue energy field near the centre.

But before Halsey could even answer, the Captain's attention was diverted to a comms unit by one of his Spartans.

"Captain to the Bridge. We have an incoming contact, they're small and giving off no heat. They're approaching from a stealth angle, and are moving quick. I'm using the Barrey Array to try and get pictures of the ships"

Lasky looked over. Now the show had begun.


	2. Chance

_**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**_

 **To answer some questions, in the last chapter I meant that Palmer could handle chief from a Leadership perspective, so as to say she could successfully Command him if the need arose. The switch from third person to first, was a thought in Halsey's head, but the italics didn't come out right. As of the posting of this chapter, it will be amended. I'm glad to see such a positive reception from my first real fanfiction. Thank you all for the critical feedback, I hope it can be see in this chapter that I have implemented changes to the best of my ability. Enjoy :)**

Husky white light lit the corners of the mostly metal room. A fish tank on one side of the room, a couch on the other. Commander John Shepard sat at his desk, just up the stairs and in a little nook by the door. Images and text fluttered past his eyes on the small holographic laptop, most of them attached to emails from friends and family.

Shepard's mother liked to keep contact with her adventuring son, but found the most reliable way to go about that was through emails. She would send him pictures of his cousins and her crew mates. Occasionally she would go dark for a few days, when the Admiral's ship was on a covert mission. Overall, John liked hearing from his mother.

His college friends, on the other hand, he couldn't care less about. They insisted on forming a mailing list by a more neurotic member of their group, so they could all keep in touch. Shepard would scroll past pictures of their wives, families, and children. Some of them were lawyers, some doctors, some were Alliance Navy like Shepard was. He never talked to any of them regularly, besides the Navy guys.

John leaned back in his chair and stretched, his day off was becoming more mundane than he initially hoped. He wanted to play a few rounds of chess with Garrus, take Tali out for dinner on the citadel, maybe hang out with Joker and EDI in the cockpit for a while. Try to bond with his crew. None of these things happened, however. Most of the day, Shepard spent by himself, listening to music and reading emails.

The Commander, growing tired of sitting around, decided to get a few sets of push-ups and sit-ups in. He was a consummate officer, after all. The fact that his current employer was Cerberus changed nothing, in his mind. To supplement his workout, he put music on. One song was ripped from the nightclub _Afterlife_ and the rest were songs he came across on the Net.

He happily managed 10 sets of 30 push ups and sit ups each, with some pull ups thrown in for good measure. John's obvious edge, was his cybernetic enhancements. They gave him greater stamina and energy than the average man, every workout he did needed to be a little bit more intense than the average Joe's.

In between sets Shepard made sure to keep hydrated, and kept working out. He let three songs cycle before starting a new playlist, with even more pirated music. This one had classical music on it, as well as old Earth rock and roll. Shepard played his music so loud that it could be heard from the deck below, in the CIC, which made everyone's day a little better. Except one man.

"Who in the hell is playing music that loud?" Jacob Taylor asked, with just a hint of irritation in his tone. The Armory officer, officially a Lieutenant on the ship's rank roster, was known for being stern but calm and level headed.

"Sounds like it's coming from Shepard's room. Honestly it's not bad. A little bit of Ilium, some Afterlife, some Elvis. All pirated too. I've been monitoring his extranet activity" Yeoman Kelly Chambers explained.

"Yeah, not surprised there. A lot of places won't take his bank account I'd imagine. Is it just me that's bothered by it?" Jacob inquired, surveying the CIC while leaning against the railing. He saw a lot of people just doing their work, nothing more. Nobody was entertained by the music thumping, nor were they exactly annoyed.

Jacob was also a consummate officer, or at least a soldier, and knew that the best Sailor was one who wasn't annoyed or entertained, but one that was always good at his or her job. So Jacob decided to handle the problem before it did get out of hand, and remind Shepard that music should be kept at a reasonable level.

Shepard was in tune with his work out, timing each of his sit ups to the beat of the song, a lengthy and almost operatic melody that was played on Earth in one of the nightclubs of his youth. His work out had been going for almost an hour, and he had managed to rack up almost 1000 Push ups and sit ups, some with weight assistance.

He had reason to take pleasure in his work, to be proud of himself. The Commander had a toned body, defined abs and lean biceps. He was most certainly a strong and agile man, cybernetics or not. The cybernetics did help, however. This was a fact that Shepard had to live with, that every single thing he achieved, ever life saved, every planet wrought from the iron grip of certain doom, was partially thanks to Cerberus.

Cerberus had been on the Commander's mind for a long time. The enigmatic organization, led by the charismatic Illusive Man, was strictly pro-human. Most Humans would probably say that is a good thing, and that is what the overly Charismatic leader would have them believe. It is not so, however, as the fingers with which Cerberus uses to meddle are trimmed with the fixings of experimentation, terrorism, despotism and maniacal greed.

These things, as they were, inherently positioned themselves against the moral code that Shepard held dear to him. Sometimes called a "paragon", Commander Johnathan Shepard was for many a gleaming star in a galaxy of darkness and corruption, someone who fought for the good of people everywhere, no matter who they were. When he died, the Galaxy cried.

Now it was a matter of darkness itself. Moving in the shadows, being careful not to alert the Galaxy to his being alive, trying not to advertise that Cerberus was funding his endeavors to save Humans, and everyone else, from the deft oppression the Reapers inevitably would bring. Darkness in his own heart that manifested in pain, pain that he could not bear when left to his own devices, to live in his own head.

So he worked out, read emails, ran, treated his beloved to kind dinners, all in order to mask and retreat from his own pain, all in order to make his own suffering feel a little less. When the time came, he could break ties with Cerberus and it's "Illusive Man", but that time was not now. It felt like it would never come. He had stopped the collectors, but Cerberus still held his leash.

A loud bang, followed by three more, snapped Shepard from his trance. He was standing in the middle of the room, directly in front of the stairs, lost in contemplative thought. The Paragon was reliving his last mission over in his head, the one that led to the deaths of many in his company. The rest were lucky to live.

Jacob suddenly burst into the room, having activated the manual override for Shepard's door.

"Mind explaining to me why you aren't answering your door, Shepard?" the Lieutenant drawled, barely able to raise his voice over the sound of the music.

"Yeah. I was working out" Shepard said, with a flick of his omni tool to bring an end to the music. He sat on the couch, covered in sweat and craving a drink of water. The Armory officer sat next to him, carrying the Commander's laptop.

"Incoming transmission, Commander. Level one authority. I was gonna let you have it for the mini-party you were having up here but I know better than to sit in on conversations"

"No, sit. What we've been through...I trust you"

"Alright, doesn't make me any more comfortable, but alright" Jacob sighed, sitting down on Shepard's bed.

The transmission was from Alliance Naval Intelligence, Admiral Hannah Shepard. John breathed a sigh of relief and activated the video feed.

"Hey Johnny. How are you doing? Good I hope. I understand that I'm being rather curt at this moment, but I hope _you_ understand that I wouldn't be contacting you via these channels if I didn't have something REAL important to talk about. Hell, it's probably a breach of clearance to tell you about this, but you're a specter, so fuck it" Hannah drawled, barely getting a breath. John sat a bit in shock, as it was rare for his mother to swear.

"What's going on, Mom? Just give it to me straight"

"At 0:500 Hours Tuesday outbound sensor stations detected what appeared to be a lightning storm in space—HA! Okay I can't do that. Old movie references and such. Anyways" Shepard could tell from the frantic nature of his Mother's speech and her scatterbrained jokes that something even more dire than he previously anticipated was going on.

"Okay, take two. At 0:500 Hours Tuesday outbound sensor stations detected an anomaly the size of the Citadel in the Alpha Centauri system. Some massive, long and tall ship, flanked by smaller ships, came tearing out of subspace like a hog to fresh feed. I don't know what the hell it is, but Alliance Naval command sure wants to find out. They could be hostile and the best diplomat I know, is technically no longer with the Alliance Navy. Now I'm not giving you _an_ order, son, I'm _ordering you_ to be the first damn ship out there to meet them. You're close, according to my records of Normandy's movements. You'll be able to get there well ahead of the Alliance 272nd Fleet. This isn't a drill, this is a first contact scenario. Bring your best, son. Don't skimp out"

"I won't. This is obviously something you trust me with more than you trust the Alliance. So trust me, let me do what I do best, and get some sleep. I know you, I know you've been up for days probably. All will take care of itself. I'll send you an email soon Mom" Shepard commented, bringing his resting state to a much more agitated one.

"Also, before I go. Hello Jacob! Nice to see you're doing well since your Corsair days. I hope things have been going well for you"

"Good to see you too Missus Shepard. Try to take it easy" Jacob was enraged, he shouldn't have been there for that conversation. He had to make do with what he had though.

Within a moment, Shepard was up and dressed in his Uniform, heading to the door. By the time Jacob could catch up, they were already preparing to move into the Mass Relay. A couple seconds more, and this new mission would be upon them.

Shepard ordered the ship to go stealth once they got out of the Relay Corridor, and maintain a stealth approach.

He wasn't counting on the other ship having windows.


	3. Rejoice

**Editor's notes: It seems this story was forgotten about for a little bit less than a year, but here we are, back with another exciting chapter. I'm sorry to keep you guys waiting, and I'm sorry this is so short, but life has been a little stressful. My entire house is essential so I haven't had a chance to sit down and write in a very long time. I'm hoping to upload at least a chapter a month, so we'll see how it goes. That should give me a little bit of time to write. Also, don't assume everyone is friends just because they're first contact went smoothly.**

Upon returning to the Bridge, the Captain was swarmed by dozens of his bridge crew, all of various ranks, all trying to get ahead of the other to deliver their data. They pushed, shoved and in some cases slammed each other. Panic had set it. The messages dispatched to UNSC command had, obviously, returned nothing but static and dead air. Lasky, eager to get to his command station, was pushing past slowly. He finally pushed through, ascended the stairs and bellowed in the most authoritative voice he could muster:

"At Attention, sailors! You are running around this ship, this MILITARY ship, like mothers looking for lost sons. I won't have it. Yes, I will admit to you that we are in a bad situation. We are most likely very far from home. That does not mean that we are allowed to lose our sense of purpose, our organization, our decorum. We're not allowed to drop the very values that the Navy is built on just because we encounter a new situation. Get back to work, and don't lose your minds" Lasky turned and moved to the front of the Bridge, where the sensor crews were located. Specifically he met up with the returning Lieutenant Miranda Sun-Hyung Jeong who ran the Barrey Array.

"El-Tee Jeong, I remember when you came on this ship. How are you finding your station?" Lasky asked, trying to put on a front of calmness.

"Captain, thank you for the welcome, it's perfect in nearly every way. Uhm, I have the Data from the first sweeps of that ship that's approaching. They're small, they could fit in one of our hanger bays" She pulled up the images of the long, sleek vessel with four engines. It looked like nothing Tom had seen before. It had no windows on it, that was so weird.

"Thank you, Miranda. I'll get back to you. Were you able to identify any communications arrays?"

"No sir, but I think those prongs on the front have something to do with the shield projection. I'm going to keep analyzing the images, Sir" Miranda turned back to her Console and Lasky walked back to the holo table in the center. He brought up the images and looked intensely at them. This ship was truly like nothing anyone had seen. What did the "SR-2" on the side mean? He looked closer and saw some text on the side, couldn't quite make it out.

"Lieutenant Jeong! Did you manage to get an image of the side? Maybe enhance it?" Lasky called over the radio. It was easier than yelling across a busy bridge.

"Yes, Captain, I managed to clean up the side a bit. It says 'Normandy'. I wonder if that's supposed to be there?" Miranda was left without an answer however, because Tom was calling someone else up to the bridge.

 **- _Rec Room -_**

Isaac Copeland, a dark skinned man with curly black hair, was doing sit ups when he got the call from the Captain. Isaac was an UNICOM/UNSC Army Force Recon Operator, the guy they sent down first in a pre-mission fashion, to make sure everything was like the intel said it was. Isaac got a huge rush from doing such things during the original Covenant War.

He finished his last sit up and grabbed the radio off the wall, putting it to his ear. The man was sweating obscenely, but knew that these closed radios were the only option for them considering the size of the ship.

"Copeland here, what's up?" He said, a touch of a British accent in the background. Not many people in the world had accents anymore, after 500 years, so Isaac was usually self conscious about it. He tried his best to scrub it clean.

"This is Captain Lasky, report to the bridge and bring your best battle plans Isaac. I want you to draw up something for a first contact situation with a new species. Meet me in 15 in my office?" Tom said, candidly.

"Yes, sir. Should I come suited up?"

"In your armor? No. Just a pistol, rifle and plate carrier. There's no need for full armor. We're not going to be talking to the Covenant" Lasky cut the line.

 **- _Aboard the Normandy_ -**

Commander Shepard stood in the cockpit of the Normandy, looking out the window towards the absolutely massive ship they were approaching. It was easily as large as the Island of Manhattan back on Earth, it might even be larger. How could something like this exist? How could it appear in a seemingly abandoned system from nowhere? At least the stealth system seemed to work against it.

"What's that say, on the side of the ship?" Shepard asked.

"Uhhh, don't know Commander, kinda busy flying the ship. You know, making sure we don't get blown out of the sky here. We're taking this thing head on, I wouldn't want to worry you, but it looks like all the weapons are on the front. Just food for thought"

"Right. EDI, can you tell me what it says?"

"Commander Shepard, the designation of the ship appears to be 'UNSC Infinity', but the United Nations Security Council was declared defunct nearly 100 years ago. Should I initiate contact?"

"Do you think they've seen us, somehow?"

"It would appear as though they have windows. I have also been detecting a scanning-imaging wave sweeping us. It would appear they already know we are here" This caused Joker to wince slightly, seeing as his joke had backfired.

"Are you detecting any communications between them and those small ships we saw flying around earlier?"

"Yes, Commander, a slightly enhanced Radio wave spectromical system. I can easily match their wave-length and send out a short message. Anything too long and we will be risking our electronics. It seems as though they produce communications at a much higher electrical frequency than we do, which may give us some insight into the strength of their internal systems. They seem very robust"

"Alright, EDI, let's send a message. I'll keep it to 15 seconds, would that do?" Shepard asked.

"That would be fine, Commander" EDI responded in a dead pan manner. Shepard stepped a little closer to EDI's pedestal and cleared his throat.

"Unidentified Spacecraft, this is Commander Johnathan Shepard of the SSV Normandy, SR-2. We do not have the means to communicate long term with you. Please send identifying information over low-band, low-frequency radio. We will respond to frequency 1211-B-9. This message will repeat until a response is given. We have detected your imaging sensors sweeping over us" Shepard concluded.

"Message has been sent, Commander. We are receiving no response"

 **- _Infinity_ -**

Captain Tom Lasky and Army Captain Isaac Copeland listened to the message repeat over and over, from Lasky's office. Copeland was someone that Lasky saw as an equal, he had the life and combat experience to earn that respect. It helped that Copeland was supposed to be on the ship only for a short while to transfer commands.

"What do you think, Is?" Tom said, muting the broadcast. He adjusted himself in his chair and leaned back with a cup of coffee. Some habits died hard.

"Well, good thing they speak English. I'm not going to lie to you, I don't think this is a traditional first contact situation like we had with the Covvies. They have the hallmarks of being Human. The first name, rank structure, language and ship designation. I'm pretty sure that name is a reference to D-Day. UNISPECWAR groups like myself aren't really used to this kind of thing"

"Yeah, but at the same time, most of my Spartans are off ship and your division is the only experienced one onboard. We just got a new rotation of fresh Marines, but I wouldn't trust them not to shoot their own nuts off. Between you and your team, there's enough experience to out think anyone, even some jacked up hicks who think they can fly straight at the Infinity"

"So blow them out of the air. Simple as that" Isaac concluded, leaning back with his own cup of coffee.

"Or, alternately, let's bring them into the ship. You down on the ground with me, and your guys on over-watch from the catwalks. Anything goes haywire, they swoop in and send them to the brine. What do you think? No armors, no sparties, just a small welcoming team. That should make them feel better, right?"

"You're gonna do what you're gonna do Tommy. I've known you for what, 15 years now? You've not made a bad decision in that time. Still need to work on that confidence though. You're great when you're out on that bridge but suck when you talk to me or Sara" Isaac laughed, so did Tom.

"Right, alright. Let's do it then. Get your guys in position in Hanger 24, I'll have it cleared out. Use the radio over there" Tom pointed. Isaac stretched to reach it, grabbed it and found himself laying on the couch.

"Lazy ass" Tom mumbled before prepping to leave the office.

"Arc, Demon, Sparky, Ferrous, report to Hanger 24. You're going to be on the catwalks above the hanger. Bring a SMG, Pistol and Plate carrier. No armor, just standard body. Yeah Sparks you can use your marksman rifle. Jesus. Alright, Sabre out" Isaac said, clicking the radio back onto the wall. He pulled himself up, stood and put the plate carrier on over top his workout shirt, grabbed the SMG he had, loaded it and put the pistol across his chest just underneath a combat knife.

Both Isaac and Lasky exited the ready room and headed to the bridge. Some of the meeker Seamen looked at Isaac with a slightly intimidated stare, a stare that wasn't returned to them. Isaac stayed behind his friend and maintained perfect trigger discipline, never letting the gun fall even though it was attached to his vest.

Lasky, to Isaac, had a somewhat impressive gait. The man he knew was always the fun loving, college Bro kind of guy, maybe a bit of a nerd, but he shaped up. Got his life in order. Now, even though it shined through on occasion, Lasky's past life couldn't be seen anywhere. He was all suit and tie, prim and proper. It made Isaac proud, and dejected. There was no way that him and Tom could connect on a truly deep level anymore.

"Alright, let's send a message back. 1211-Bravo-Niner, low frequency. Tell me when we're live" Lasky said, plucking a headset and setting it on his head. Once the live call was given, he started to speak into it. It was two way, so a response would be quick.

"This is Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity. We hear you Normandy, and we urge you to respond. You have five minutes to respond, before we assume hostile intent. Do you Copy?" Lasky said, calming his voice. Everyone was watching him as the air went dead. No response was given. Static filled the vacuum of the bridge. " _Dead Air"_ Lasky thought. A minute passed, and no response came.

Two minutes.

Three Minutes.

Five minutes.

Tom reached up and hit the mute button on the ear cup. He picked up the regular ship loud speaker.

"All hands, this is Captain Lasky, report to battle stations. I repeat, report to Battle stations, this is Not a Drill" He said before flicking the Battle Stations alert switch, which sent an alarm ringing through every corridor, barracks and grouping room in the ship. Suddenly everyone was on their toes, suddenly the bridge was twice as full, with gunners dialing in their sights on the Normandy.

Suddenly, the ear cup on his headset crackled. Everyone stopped, and the alarm was muted. The radio was being broadcast to the speakers on the bridge. All over the bridge Lasky saw faces that were tense, people that looked like they were about to drop, sweat pouring off of them as they panted from the anxiety of the situation.

"Captain, Sir, it's an honor to meet you, truly, but don't you think the weapons are a little bit much?" Shepard called out. Everyone sighed, audibly, which Lasky noted. Except for Isaac.

"Commander, I suppose you've sorted out whatever electronics problem you had?" Lasky inquired.

"Yes, we didn't have a compatible microphone on the bridge of our ship. It's been a long time since we pointed the Radio transmitters outside instead of inside. What exactly are you?" Shepard asked.

"We can discuss the details aboard the ship. We're sending two Pelicans to escort you to our hanger bay. I understand that this situation is sort of rough and hard to move around, but trust on both our parts is needed. Welcome to the Infinity, Commander. You a Navy guy?"

"Better than being an Army guy. I see your Pelicans, Captain" Shepard responded, laughing slightly.

"I guess some things never change, eh Commander?" Lasky said, muting the radio and taking the headset off. He tried to bullshit to cut the tension. This situation just got a supernova sized bright spot. They couldn't trust the crew of the Normandy, but they could at least explain to them what was going on, and maybe in time could trust them.

"This some real Hunt for Red October shit, huh Tommy?" Isaac asked as they walked through the corridors to the elevator.

"Did you even watch that movie? USSR trying to hunt the sub, while it was defecting. Not exactly the same situation as a first contact situation potentially between two different fucking universes. Come on" Lasky said as he lead the Army Ranger into the elevator.

"You always were a Movie nerd man. I don't even know who would watch that thing, it's only a few hundred years out of date. They may not be so good nowadays, but at least their relevant" He shrugged.

"I mean it's one thing to watch a movie, it's another thing entirely to _watch_ a Movie, you know what I mean? We're here. Let's get into position" Isaac was right, there was no connecting with Thomas nowadays. At least he wasn't so lacking in self confidence that he was shirking back from things they had talked about a million times.

They came into the Hangar just in time to see Ferrous and Sparky leaning on the rail shooting finger guns at the forcefield that held space back.

"Ferrous, Sparky, shape up goddamn it!" Isaac yelled, they snapped to attention and saluted him. As quick as they did, they were greeted by the sight of the two Pelicans breaking away, and the massive cylindrical ship's nose breaking the force-field into the hanger bay. It was bigger than they expected, by an order of two.

Slowly, docking clamps reached down as the backwash from the four main forward engines filled the hanger bay. They clamped hard onto the Normandy's silver skin, sending a small neutralizing wave across the outside that shimmered across, out over the wings and down to the engines, shutting them off. Normandy was lowered so that her bottom cargo hold was close enough to the ground to let the ramp touch.

The ramp came down slowly, and on the other side was a tall man in full body armor, with red stripes down the arms and a badge on the chest reading N7. Behind him was a tall woman with black hair, in a white bodysuit and an alien man in Blue Armor. They held no weapons in their hands, but they could be seen on the backs of each fighter.

In the rafters, Sparky and Ferrous dialed in the sights of their marksman rifles, while Demon and Arc prepared to jump down on the ship if need be. They were Spec-Ops, they were meant for this kind of thing. First contact or no, someone had to be ready.

Lasky strode up to Shepard, the first contact between two completely different universes. First contact between two people so much the same, but so much different. Two different epochs of technology, of advancement, of culture.

And they shook hands. No words were exchanged on this sacred day, just two men shaking hands and reveling in first contact. History was being made, Lasky thought, and whatever they discovered in this universe would open up possibilities no one could see. Two Universes communicating, interacting, trading tech and support. Two Universes, that neither man standing on the hanger floor could potentially realize.

The Names Thomas Lasky and John Shepard would be etched into the walls of children, in the minds of adults, and into the souls of occupants of both universes. The discoveries to be made were bigger than the landing on the moon, the Higgs Boson, slipspace, the Halo Rings. This was all discernibly a stop above the rest. That being said, Shepard had no idea what was going on. He was confused and startled to meet Humans that were so much more advanced than them

The crew, however, watching this from all over the ship, cheered. It had been a full day of stress, nearing solar evening now, they were searching and seeking some sort of release. Some shot at the shooting ranges, some had sex, some worked out, but now everyone rejoiced. This universe not only had humans, but it had friends. People they could learn from, that were qualified to answer.

"Damn, I feel like Captain Picard right now" Lasky let slip in the moment of reverie.

"I'm more of a Kirk guy, Captain" Shepard smiled, standing slightly taller than the Good Captain. Lasky sighed and laughed out loud, just for a second, at the little familiarity, the little bit of comfort in reference. A moment of weakness for Captain Lasky, turned into a moment of trust for Shepard. They weren't as much of a threat, they all seemed to be stressed from something, Shepard thought to himself. Maybe they were good people after all. Maybe.

"Come, this way, we have refreshments and food. Traditional Earth stock, or crews are homey. You like Hamburgers, Johnathan?"

"Please, just call me John, Sir. I insist, and yes, a properly cooked Hamburger sounds amazing right now. We can discuss why you're here soon, I assume?"

"Why not over dinner? I'd be honored to have you, I can see those plates bother you"

"Absolutely. Give me a few moments to take it off and then we can head out. Thanks for the warm welcome, by the way. We thought you were hostile, but I can hear from your crew's reverie that the opposite is true" Shepard said, taking off parts of his armor with Garrus's help.

"No, no, we're simply lost and a little stressed out is all. A lot of wild theories and crewmen on their maiden voyage, eventually something's got to give"

"One step at a time, I think you can agree that we're both not quite at trusting level yet. Slightly more comfortable now that we're not aiming weapons at each other, but nowhere near trust. A giant spaceship doesn't just show up in your neighborhood every day, sir" Shepard explained, buttoning his officer's jacket.

"Understood, John. Well let's hope that we can garner some trust over our chef's hamburgers. I think that's fair?"

"Of course" John said, falling behind Lasky.

And so the two History makers went off, to reconcile differences over old-school hamburgers.


	4. Quiver

Lasky turned his back on the Commander and lead him out into the hallways that made up the majority of the UNSC Infinity. As they were turning, Shepard detached a small disk from his armor and placed it discreetly on the metal frame of the hallway. Shortly afterwards, EDI was in his earpiece telling him that she had started up hacking into the ship.

The Captain took Shepard to a large dining hall that had been cleared out. Shepard, Miranda and Garrus were sat across from Lasky, with food placed in front of them and drinks poured. Lasky took a sip from his freshly filled Coffee mug. They enjoyed the meal, though Garrus did not partake, before Lasky was interrupted by a Bridge Officer, specifically a Lieutenant in charge of the Comms.

"Captain, emergency calls are coming in from the Olympus Mons, Dust of Snow, Edge of Night and Eden Flight. They are requesting you respond immediately" She whispered.

"If you would excuse me, I have to take this call" Lasky said as he stood up, and followed the Lieutenant to the hallway.

"Get Erik-221 for me as well. I want to crack into that tin can of a ship and see what they've got, and I can't be sending in Army guys. It's not their job"

"Should we reactivate the asset, sir?"

"Maybe. Keep him on notice. We don't know how the meeting is going to go. We can't trust these people. Sure, they're human, and I'm sure the crew is happy to see Human faces, but that doesn't mean they have the best interests of this ship at heart. I'm sure their AI is already trying to drill into the ship's computers"

"What makes you think their ship has an AI, Captain?"

"What makes you think it doesn't? It's safer to assume it does and be proven wrong, then to assume it doesn't and face greater challenges. Remember, we know nothing about where we ended up" The captain ended as he walked into the elevator.

"Get Erik, route the calls through to the bridge" Lasky ended on, as the Lieutenant nodded. She went on her way towards the S-Deck, while Lasky rode up the Elevator towards the CIC. Upon arriving, he strode to his command table to face the captains of the ships that made up his escort; Four Autumn-Class Heavy Cruisers, each responsible for a group of 15 Anlace and Paris frigates each.

In total, the Infinity's current escort consisted of 64 ships, but at a distance it looked to be only 20 or so, and tight coordination was required to make everything go smoothly. Beyond that, coordinating the Heavy Cruiser crew, the Frigate crews, and the Infinity's crew was no small task. Over the past day, all of them had been in chaos. Only now was there some semblance of the Military Decorum required for a situation such as this.

"Captains Forster, Andrews, Jackson and Ryker. What is the problem?" Lasky asked. The men on the other side of the video feeds ranged from middle aged, to fully gray beards. They all wore strict uniforms, with field caps atop their heads. On the caps was the scrambled eggs patterned bills, and a UNSC Logo in gold on the forehead.

They seemed to be talking among themselves for a few minutes before responding to the Captain of the Infinity. There was no cohesion among them, they all had their own ideas about how to approach this situation.

Finally, the oldest of the group, Captain Leonard A. Forster, spoke up. His voice was gravely, almost like he had smoked every day of his life, through a thick southern drawl. He was the most direct of the group, and often did the talking for the other, younger, captains since their establishment as Infinity's escort group. This was easiest, and let the verbal sparring stay between two people.

"To be honest, Lasky, I'm not sure what the hell you are up to. You are breaching protocol after protocol without talking to us. You have brought aboard your vessel, a foreign ship with unknown markings, no FOF tag, and no registration in our computers. You have ignored us, sent out exploratory parties, and walled off your computers to our systems, which is admittedly a sound tactic but utterly unprecedented. So I'm going to be blunt with you, Lasky, as I always am. What on God's green earth are you doing?" The man drawled out.

"At 0700 Hours Tuesday afternoon, the UNSC Infinity and it's escort group dropped out of slipspace into a different system than we have ever encountered. The stars, according to our AI's analysis, were out of place, the planet Sangheilios had disappeared, and a new prong-shaped object had been discovered by our long range sub-luminal imaging system, and exploratory parties were sent to find out exactly what the object was.

After returning to the ship, a small vessel was spotted on approach by the Barrey Array. This vessel was identified as the SSV Normandy, with the tail number of SR-2. Shortly after the sensor sweep, the Normandy contacted us via FM Frequency 1211-Bravo-Niner. We rigged up a return comms system and told them to land in one of our docking bays. We utilized UNSC Army recon operators to secure the hanger.

The people who emerged wanted to talk, but they brought weapons, and reiterated a point of not trusting us. Two of them were Human. The other was of an, as of yet, unidentified species. We have taken them to the guest dining hall and given them food and drink as a show of hospitality. They are being guarded by Spartan 4's currently. These are the protocols of first contact, are they not?"

"First contact, Lasky?! Are you saying that we have the need to activate first contact protocols?! What is going through your head, have you finally lost your marbles? You say that the people who are in your dining hall are human -"

"One of them, Leonard. One of them was Human"

"Right, I'm so sorry for mistaking myself but this brings to head the other major protocol breaches. You are allowing an undiscovered species, two humans who's intention we know not, onto the flagship of the UNSC Navy. You utilize Army instead of Marines, overstepping your power given to you by your oath, and give them a sneak peak at our ship? You have gone insane"

"With all due respect, Leonard, we don't know what happened. The stars have shifted back over 300 years, the planets are different or gone, and we see no trace of UNSC Command's signal bands. You know about the risks of errant slipspace flight. Ships have been lost to the brine before due to calculation errors. Why do you think we let our AI drive when it comes to Slipspace nowadays? These people could be the only hope we have to figure out what the hell happened to us"

"Here is when I will say with all due respect" Alan O. Andrews, Captain of the Dust of Snow, spoke up, Andrews was a graduate of Oxford University with a degree in Physics and Military science. He was the most accomplished, academically, of the Captains. Lasky nodded to him as a go-ahead.

"With all due respect, I want to know where you are getting your information. Slipspace has been known to cause high-pressure hull fractures and disintegration, but what you are suggesting is the theory of multiple universes, String Theory. I don't know why you think that, in this situation, String theory is applicable to what has happened here, but I want to know. My vote is clad, either way, but call it...professional curiosity, if anything" He ended.

"Vote?" Lasky returned, an air of inquisition in his voice.

"Yes, Lasky, a vote. We have been discussing among ourselves what to do about this situation. In normal convention, when a captain has so far breached protocol as you have, we would report it to UNSC Command under recommendation of Court Marshal. Instead, we have to vote on what we are to do in this circumstance" Forster piped up.

"And what are you going to do, in this circumstance?"

"Nothing at present. I, at least, have deemed that your reasoning is clear. Captains Forster and Andrews, however, seem to not have faith in your decisions. I know that Captain Ryker and I believe that you are a good enough officer to make these kind of decisions on your own. For now, the vote is split down the middle. You have made some missteps, I will concede, but...how does one put this? Leonard is old fashioned, unyielding. Alan is smart to a fault, but facts outside of those books don't exactly occur to him. The one thing I can stress, that I think will put us all at ease, is cooperation. Keep in touch, Captain, and we will probably be much better off. Wouldn't you say, Leonard?" Jackson concluded.

"Yes, I would say so. That being said, for transparency's sake, please explain where you got this idea in your head about String Theory. The only person I know of, the only person who was working on a plausible theory of the Strings is Doctor Halsey. Before she was arrested, that is. Obviously her work stopped."

"You're on the mark, Leonard. Halsey is the one who put this idea in my head, and I think she can justify it. You should know by now that Infinity has been harboring Halsey, in order to get her assistance with an artifact found on Requiem. I never did get her full opinion on this situation, thanks to the Normandy's arrival"

"I suppose that makes sense, consult the smartest person on the ship. Despite what she did to us, the crimes that got her arrested, she is definitely the one to contact. Her crimes are subjective, either way. If you could, I would like to discuss this situation with her over Comms. She may be able to shed light on the situation, and we may possibly come to a conclusion" Andrews spoke up.

"I think that's doable. I'll transfer your signal down to the Brig. I'll be in touch" Lasky said, ending the call. He turned around to see Erik standing at the elevator door, in his customary S-3 armor, which had Mark Six improvements. His helmet, shoulders and knee armor was all made in spec with Standard Mark Six armor. He was wearing the last of the Gen 1.

Lasky came down to him and the Spartan saluted his commanding officer. They both came back to the command deck and stood around the holographic table.

"What do you need, Captain?" Erik asked. He was straightforward, but kind. His voice had a certain soft quality to it that made you trust him, lulled you in like a warm blanket. Erik was a charismatic leader, and had been for the entire war.

"I need you and three of your men to infiltrate that ship down there. I'm entertaining guests, the Commander of that ship and two of his crew. I'm requisitioning your team some active camouflage. It should get you inside the ship. From there I want you to find the Computer Core and download everything you can onto a storage drive. Get back out and deliver the package" Lasky stated.

"Any special orders, sir?"

"Keep it quiet, Spartan. I already got two Spartan-IV's on guard duty outside the dining hall, so we should be good if things don't run smooth, but let's try and make them run smooth, alright?"

"Yes, sir, Operation Untouchable is go" Erik said, putting his helmet back on and walking down the corridor. He went down to Hanger 24 and stood in a small room off to the side of the Normandy, one of the Hanger's operating rooms. In side was Alex-121 and Lindsay-110. The two Spartans had different tech in each of their suits, constituting their role in the team. Alex was equipped with sniping gear, but was good for recon in a situation such as this.

Lindsay had breacher and hacking tech. She was the computer nerd on this Spartan 3 team. She could break into any system that the Covenant offered and make it do exactly what she wanted. She outwitted some AI in her initial tests in the Spartan program. Lindsay was the one that you had to have around if you were doing anything related to hacking.

Other members of the team had differing skills, but Erik thought it best to keep the composition small so they would have less chance of being detected by internal system, crewmen who didn't disembark, and a potential AI system they weren't sure even existed. They had light arms as well, a battle rifle and pistol for all of them.

The team activated their camouflage and set out up the ramp onto the Normandy. Erik could have sworn her heard the pilot of the ship hitting on UNSC officers, but generally everyone else was trying to get along and learn about eachother. It was the breeding ground for a HUMINT operation. Have the crew talk to as many people as they could, debrief them heavily, and then compile the data and information.

This was assuming they didn't have some sort of hacker on board the ship that was trying to breach Infinity. The tension was palatable, and there was definitely something that wasn't being said. Erik could figure as much out, and he thought the Captain was on the same thought process. Something was being intentionally left out, just in case, however.

Speculation wasn't their current objective, though. They were to infiltrate, download and exfiltrate, avoiding any sort of conflict if they could. Avoiding detection in general would be great, but just from the cargo bay of this ship, they could tell that it was more like an old earth submarine than it was a vast vessel like Infinity.

Everything inside was shiny and bright, almost as if it was from a science fiction movie back on Earth. It made the Spartans uneasy to see this, considering how utilitarian the UNSC was. Everything had a purpose there, nothing was out of place. On the Normandy, however, everything seemed to have a modicum of luxury, almost as if it wasn't built as a naval ship at all.

They gleaned some info off of the crates, all were food, ammo and weapons. Normal things for a ship such as this. They all had the markings of a strange symbol with the word "Cerberus" next to them.

"Lindsay, can you get any shipping data off these cryo containers?" Erik asked. Lindsay walked over and hooked up a small magnetic cable that ran from her helmet, down to whatever she needed to connect it to. From there she could access the system, if it wasn't encrypted, and download whatever she needed.

"Looks like they shipped from a resupply station in the Alpha Centauri system. Cerberus Regional Command Center RSD-15-FFR. It looks like, or at least the astrometric data seems to suggest that, the Cerberus bases are large and spread out, there's no central base. Or, if there is one, it's not easily accessible information. We can probably get more inside the computer core" She said.

"Alright, let's switch to internal radios. Buffer your outside speakers so they can't hear us talk. Lindsay, head to that door over there and see if you can get it open. Alex, I want you to watch out for anyone coming back into the ship. Let me know if you see anyone and we can scatter" Erik said, as Lindsay jumped into action.

She unfolded a small data pad off of her thigh and connected the same magnetic cable to it, and to the door. This allowed her to access the central mainframe for lock controls on the ship. She met some resistance upon accessing the mainframe and, correctly, came to the conclusion that she was dealing with a fairly advanced AI system that was attempting to keep her out.

"Bad news, we've got an AI. I'm trying to work around it but it's a fair sight faster than any UNSC AI I've sparred with. Give me a minute. Keep me covered" She murmured in her helmet. For every five moves Lindsay made, the AI made 10 ahead of her. It was fast, sleek and damned smart. Eventually Lindsay tried the trick that worked in the Training camp.

She used the Infinity's computer network to send a slurry of billions of packets of useless information into the ports that the AI was using to combat her. She fed in petabytes of information in mere seconds, hoping to induce logic plague in the AI and force it into Rampancy. When the glowing orb in the corner of the room shut down, she knew she succeeded.

The door slid open with a hiss, and the fireteam entered.

"Looks like we got lucky, Sir" Lindsay said to Erik as she programmed the elevator to take her up one deck, to the area that she had identified the AI's signal coming from.

"Lucky? What do you mean?" Alex finally said, after a long silence on his part. This came from the many, many hours he'd spent in recon missions alone, where even a small sound could cause his own death. He liked to be quiet.

"Well, this ship definitely has an AI. Luckily, it's susceptible to the overflow problem like our old AI's were. No one fixed this one for some reason. Shove a few petabytes of useless 1s and 0s into the open ports and shut it down for a while. Or send it into Rampancy. Whatever works, it won't be pestering us for a while. I also managed to trace the signal back to a small room behind the medical bay, so we're going to have to sneak past at least one doctor. Other than that, our suit camo should be enough to get us past"

"Good work, Linds. Let's keep our heads on straight for now though. We're not even sure what this second deck looks like. Knowing how things are going presently, I'm sure it'll be nice and snug. Can you tell me when that AI comes back on?"

"Yes, sir. I am maintaining a passive connection to the lock mainframe that will tell me when those ports open back up"

"Good. Get ready, the elevator's stopped"

 **Bridge of the UNSC Infinity**

"Captain, I'm noticing a small activity spike on our firewalls. Like a bunch of bullets are hitting it. It's got an unknown signature, seems to be originating from Hang..."

"Roland? What's going on?" Lasky said. He turned to the AI's pedestal, where he was seemingly lost in thought.

"Signal was originating from Hanger 24, sir. It's since stopped, however. I'm not sure what to make of this data, it's almost like it was coming from a signal buffer on the wall. I can't seem to make out what exactly the signal was. It's just gone" Roland seemed confused, inconclusive.

"I'll get down to the mess hall and keep entertaining our guests. Have some techs scan the walls and look for anything out of place. Keep me informed about the situation, and tell me when Fireteam Quiet gets out of the tin can" Lasky commanded, before heading off to the banquet that was made to make his guests feel comfortable.

Roland ordered teams to Hanger 24 almost immediately to use deep scanning and find the signal buffer that caused the issue.

 **Mess Hall**

Captain Lasky strode into the hall and returned to his seat among the two humans and one Turian. He asked for a fresh round of drinks to be delivered before he laid into the questions.

"So, Commander John Shepard. I've learned your name, but I haven't learned that of your compatriots. I'm Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity, to show a little bit of introductory politeness, and you two are?"

"Miranda Lawson, I am an Officer of the military organization Cerberus. But you needn't know any more than that, Captain. With all due respect, you are the interlopers. We owe you little, while you owe us an explanation. Especially considering the threats this galaxy faces" Miranda stated, in her normal matter of fact, business woman tone. Tom cringed a little at hearing 'with all due respect' for what felt like the 50th time today.

"Well, Ms. Lawson, what threats do you face? The UNSC is just coming out of a decades-long war with an alliance of Species known as the Covenant. I can't imagine that you're galaxy faces much worse"

"Far worse than a simple war, Tom. There is something residing outside of the Galaxy currently, that is hell bent on destroying all living creatures" John cut in.

"That's a tall claim. I do hope you plan on supplying sufficient evidence of your claims?"

"We will, if you can prove to us that you aren't an entity that seeks to further the goals of our enemies or hurt us. You've got a massive amount of firepower here. I can't just go out and give away all of my information. You understand that, surely, as a Naval officer yourself." John responded.

"We're lost, Commander, and the running theory among our scientific community is that we've managed to somehow jump into an alternate universe. String theory, you've heard of it I assume? We don't know how to get back to our own universe, if that does pan out. That's all we want, trust me Commander" Lasky returned

"Here's the thing, Tom. We don't trust you. We don't know if we'll _be able to trust you_. You've offered us no reason besides not immediately firing upon us. Your diplomacy is fantastic, in that regard. Make no mistake, this is a courtesy that we are giving you. A chance to offer up something that we can take to the council in order to justify why a ship the three times the size of the Destiny Ascension is just floating in an abandoned system. We'll have no choice but to react aggressively, if you can't"

"Commander, I doubt anything we give you, besides unfettered access to our computer systems, would convince you that we are of no threat to you. Understandably, that option is not on the table. We would be breaking at least 20 UNSC protocols in doing so"

Underneath the table, Miranda had slid her pistol into her hand. She didn't notice the Spartan-IVs from earlier had managed to enter the room and move up behind them.

 **Mess deck of the Normandy**

Erik and his team had assessed the situation by standing as still as they could with their backs to the adjacent wall outside of the elevator. They slid in past the cook, over to the windows of the doctor's office, and in through her door. They stopped when the doctor, an older woman, turned her chair towards the door.

Erik was the first through the door to the Computer core, then Lindsay, and lastly Alex. Once the door was shut behind them, they deactivated their active camo. Alex made sure to lock the door in a way that only he could open it. Lindsay went and placed her data pad on the Computer core, attached the cable, and began downloading as much as she could into the Infinity's data banks. There was only about a petabyte of real information, which included top secret orders and movements, communiques between personnel and the mother base, shipment orders. What she did managed to see pop up in her visor was the activation and relay codes for something called the Mass Relays. These codes allowed the ships to travel along the relays.

"Jackpot, hot fucking damn, this is everything we need to get around this place, and let me tell you. I really don't think we're in Kansas anymore" Lindsay said, detaching her pad. They were going over the small trappings of the data before a small blue orb appeared next to them. The orb shimmered for a moment before collecting itself.

"That was a nasty trick, now it's my turn" The AI glimmered out, before an ear piercing alarm rang throughout the entire Normandy, followed by a voice saying 'Intruder Alert, Intruder Alert, all SAN Marines and Cerberus Combat units report to the Computer Core. All SAN Marines and Cerberus Combat units report to the Computer Room".

"Well, shit, there goes the stealthy approach" Erik commented as he backed against the wall with his team. On the opposite side of the room, they heard banging, before the ignition of a acetylene torch. Within moments, the Marines had burned through the door and pulled it open. They opened fire, sending a hail of plasma down the tight corridor towards the Spartans.

Erik was the first to jump into action, running forward into the group as he vaulted over and into the center. He through a punch into the gut of one, before turning and sweeping the legs of another three. He punched downward on them, _hard._ He could hear the sound of their bones fracturing from the impact.

Alex was the next to jump into the fray, he ran and jumped up onto the Computer Stacks, before jumping behind Erik. They fought back to back, focusing the fire inward so that every time they moved, the Marine's fired straight into their own ranks. Eventually, Erik pushed Alex out of the way before calling out to Lindsay, who was still standing behind him.

Lindsay did what any tech nerd would. She took a flash grenade off her chest, modified it to caused permanent hearing and sight damage. She warned everyone to darken their visors, which they did dilligently. She tossed the grenade, which Erik caught, and tossed on the ground before he lept out of the way. Some of the Marines dove as well, but were met by Alex, who promptly took care of them. As soon as the grenade went off, Alex and Erik made a break for it, while Lindsay trailed them. They got to the elevator and set it to go down.

"Well we're in pig shit now" She commented.

"Yeah pig shit and about five other types of shit, I thought you took care of that AI?" Alex blurted out

"I thought I did as well, seems it's a little more resilient than ours are. Either way, it's going to be a goddamned fight trying to get back to Infinity. Why do you think they're just letting the damn elevator go?" She commented, before it stopped, and opened to every combat unit that the ship had to offer, including some unarmored people and officers, standing in their way in the Cargo hold, pointing rifles towards them. Lindsay just sighed before pulling her own Battle Rifle off her back, the others did as well.

"Well fuck" is the only thing she commented before shots rang out again, from both sides.


End file.
